2024 GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has given two totally different opinions about the Juneteenth holiday within less than two months. His first take was on June 19th, 2023 in a video posted to his X (Twitter) account.
Ramaswamy recorded the video by himself on a boat. He gave a glowing and peaceful take on the recently-appointed Federal Holiday. Ramaswamy said the day is not about “flogging ourselves for the past” but it is about recognizing how far we’ve come in the United States of America. He closed the video by saying “Happy Juneteenth.” Then, just a few weeks later during a speech in front of a mostly white, elderly crowd, he called Juneteenth “useless” and said that it should be replaced with a Federal Election Day.
As a side note, his proposal for the new “election day” seems pretty socialist in nature. Ramaswamy apparently wants to federalize elections by holding them on one day and everyone would be given a federal election card to verify identity.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s opinion of Juneteenth is not the issue here. The issue is his apparent tendency to say and do whatever is necessary to appeal to the audience he is speaking to or attempting to reach. This is a classic politician move that people are getting tired of. Well, some people are tired of it. Ramaswamy is currently third behind DeSantis and Trump in GOP polling after coming in with next to zero support. As much as the general public says that they are tired of being lied to by politicians, the success of politicians who behave like Ramaswamy proves that untrue.
SOURCES:
Vivek Ramaswamy suggests canceling Juneteenth
Holidays | U.S. Department of Commerce
Vivek Ramaswamy on Twitter: “Juneteenth is a new holiday so we still have a chance to define what it means to us. It needn’t be about grievance & self-flogging. Let it be a celebration of the American Dream itself. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/NyHfbJoAlw” / X
